St. John's Guild of the Dead and Riflemen from 1192
The St. Johannis Toten- und Schützengilde von 1192 eV is a registered association in Oldenburg in Holstein .
It currently (2012) has approx. 1150 members, the guild sisters and guild brothers.
Every year around Midsummer (June 24th) the guild celebrates its shooting festival, the “Days of Roses”. In traditional black suit with cylinder , cane and red roses on lapels and cylinder more than 500 male members parade through the city of Oldenburg in Holstein and shoot with large-caliber guns on more than three hundredweight guild bird.
The guild also acts as an insurance company in the event of death and then pays out an insurance amount.
Further goals of the guild are to hold a ball in February, the so-called Fastlabend-Ball, and to maintain the Low German language .
The guild is run by 3 senior men who are only allowed to hold their posts for one year . The names of the elderly men can be traced back to the 15th century.
The history of the guild is documented in a separate area of the Oldenburg Wall Museum .